Follow Us!

Thermaltake V9 VJ40001W2Z Review

Closer Look:

At first look you might be thinking the case design looks familiar. I thought so too. To me it looks like the Antec 900 or the NZXT Tempest, which got me excited because both of those cases were well designed and worked even better so I cannot wait to see how the Thermaltake V9 does its business. Starting on the left side of the case there is an "X" style window / ventilation holes design which allows air to be sucked into the case over critical components while allowing a nice view inside at your possessions. The ventilation design also carries over to the right side panel where hot air from the motherboard gets trapped and builds up. Thermaltake took this into consideration and allowed the air to escape through these holes. The V9 keeps its drives uncovered instead of behind a door. This gives you quick access as well as allowing you to install LCD panels and fan controllers without having them covered up. There are four external 5.25" bays and two external 3.5" bays for your devices. At the back of the case there is the I/O panel for your motherboard and the expansion cards. Thermaltake has also included a set of pass through holes for an external liquid cooling setup.

At the top of the case is where Thermaltake opted to place the power, reset, and activity lights. Behind them are two USB 2.0 ports on each side of the analog audio ports. I was surprised to not see any other ports such as a Firewire port or even an eSATA port, which is becoming more popular these days for external hard drives. At the top near the rear of the case is the huge 23cm (230mm) exhaust fan used to draw out the warm air that rises in the case to keep the components cool.

The front of the case at the bottom has a red LED 120mm intake fan designed to intake cool air from your room and push it over the hard drives and into the case. This keeps the drives cooler during operation and helps bring cooler air into the case to pass over other components and cool them down. The fan has a dust filter in front of it to trap the nasties from entering your case and getting it all dirty. This filter can easily be taken out to wash it and pop it back in. Behind each of the drive bay covers are foam like dust filters to aid in keeping the internals clean and free from debris.

Now how about we get inside and see what really makes this case special.